'Particularly dangerous': Concentration camp historian calls Musk a 'right-wing extremist'
Carl Gibson
Carl Gibson
January 24, 2025
ALTERNET
Elon Musk — the world's richest man and top advisor of President Donald Trump — is now being directly criticized by a historian who runs a memorial honoring the victims of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.
Newsweek recently reported on an interview professor Jens-Christian Wagner — who runs the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and museum — gave to the Times of London. That interview came in the wake of Musk throwing up a gesture during an Inauguration Day rally that fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat called a "Nazi salute," who added that it was "very belligerent."
"One can only say to him, 'Take a history book and withdraw for three days, read the history book and please be quiet with the poison he's spreading,'" Wagner told the Times. "I think Musk is a mixture of mad and right-wing extremist and that is particularly dangerous."
ALTERNET
Elon Musk — the world's richest man and top advisor of President Donald Trump — is now being directly criticized by a historian who runs a memorial honoring the victims of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.
Newsweek recently reported on an interview professor Jens-Christian Wagner — who runs the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and museum — gave to the Times of London. That interview came in the wake of Musk throwing up a gesture during an Inauguration Day rally that fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat called a "Nazi salute," who added that it was "very belligerent."
"One can only say to him, 'Take a history book and withdraw for three days, read the history book and please be quiet with the poison he's spreading,'" Wagner told the Times. "I think Musk is a mixture of mad and right-wing extremist and that is particularly dangerous."
Wagner's comments come amid a wave of scrutiny over Musk's more recent controversial public statements. Earlier this week, Musk made puns referencing several Nazi leaders on his X account with a crying-laughing emoji, writing: "Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming."
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's tweet was met with swift condemnation from both the Anti-Defamation League and its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt. In a quote-post, Greenblatt told Musk that "the Holocaust is not a joke," and added that it was "inappropriate and offensive to make light of it."
While Musk has yet to face any major consequences for his gesture or statements, a TV meteorologist was recently fired from her job after five years after criticizing the salute. WDJT-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin announced Thursday that Samantha Kuffel was no longer with the station after a conservative talk radio host highlighted two of Kuffel's posts to her personal Instagram account.
One of Kuffel's posts showed a video of the salute with the text: ""Dude Nazi saluted twice. TWICE. During the inauguration. You f— with this man, I don't f— with you. Full stop." The other was a screenshot from the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, with the character Mac saying: ""Screw that old b—. He's a Nazi."
Click here to read Newsweek's article, and click here to read Wagner's interview in the Times of London.
Matthew Chapman
January 21, 2025
RAW STORY
Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar
President Donald Trump's close ally, tech billionaire Elon Musk, caused an explosion of controversy on the day of Trump's swearing-in by repeatedly making an arm gesture that social media commentators and historians compared to a Nazi salute.
Trump allies quickly denied that Musk had any Nazi intentions, along with Musk himself, and some suggested he was just enthusiastically gesturing at his heart. But Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a Jewish lawmaker who heads up the House's antisemitism task force, said in a statement there was no mistaking what we all saw.
"Elon Musk has repeatedly pushed for the racist and antisemitic 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory, endorsed the Nazi-sympathizing German Political Party AfD, and allowed anti-Jewish hate to proliferate unabated on his website, X," said Goldman. "Viewed in that context, and regardless of any justification, his salute last night at Donald Trump's inauguration rally can only be interpreted as a Seig Heil salute that is synonymous with Nazi support for Hitler."
"Just as the Proud Boys understood Donald Trump's urging to 'stand back and stand by' as a direction to mastermind the January 6 riot, neo-Nazi and far-right extremists have interpreted Musk's salute to refer to the Seig Heil salute to Hitler," Goldman continued. "It is no coincidence that Musk's fascistic salute occurred just hours before President Trump pardoned far-right, violent domestic extremists who assaulted law enforcement officers at President Trump's direction in an effort to overturn the 2020 election."
In an environment where "Jews around the world are scared because of the contemptible rise in antisemitism," Goldman continued, the only acceptable recourse is for Musk to issue an "immediate apology," and for Trump to "disavow and denounce his actions."
"If not, Donald Trump cannot credibly claim to be a friend of the Jewish people with Elon Musk by his side," Goldman concluded.
'The gesture speaks for itself': German newspaper blasts Elon Musk’s 'Hitler salute'
Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Jacobsen lamented that the future was "foreseeable," writing that "neo-Nazis and right-wing radicals can interpret the stretched right arm as a gesture of fraternization and encouragement." He also predicted Trump and Musk's more "well-meaning supporters" would view the salute "as an escalated gesture of celebration."
"Everyone else is faced with an impossible choice: Either ignore the taboo being broken and thus contribute to its removal. Or mark it as a taboo violation and thus produce outrage, which the other side then takes pleasure in and gets worked up about," he wrote. "One can complain about this, but one must probably expect that a significant part of humanity now sees scandalizing the Hitler salute as nothing more than virtue signaling."
After the video of Musk's salute spread on social media, hate groups — as Jacobsen predicted — viewed the gesture as a show of solidarity with their cause. Andrew Torba, who founded the far-right social media platform Gab (where the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was radicalized), responded by writing: "Incredible things are happening already."
"I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it," neo-Nazi leader Christopher Pohlhaus posted to Telegram.
Click here to read Jacobsen's essay in Die Zeit (subscription required).
Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar
January 21, 2025
ALTERNET
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who is one of President Donald Trump's top advisors — went viral on Monday for throwing up a gesture described by a fascism expert as a "Nazi salute." Now, a leading German newspaper is criticizing both the gesture itself and the American press for trivializing it.
In an op-ed published in Tuesday's edition of Berlin's Die Zeit newspaper, journalist Lenz Jacobsen said it was clear that anyone "who raises their right arm in a sweeping and diagonal manner several times during a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience is doing the Hitler salute," and that there was "no need to make this unnecessarily complicated." He added that terms like "allegedly" or "similar" or "controversial" were also unnecessary in describing what happened.
"The gesture speaks for itself, it is documented in the video," Jacobsen wrote in German. "Anyone who then wants to reinterpret it, anyone who does not want to see the Hitler salute, does so on their own account."
ALTERNET
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who is one of President Donald Trump's top advisors — went viral on Monday for throwing up a gesture described by a fascism expert as a "Nazi salute." Now, a leading German newspaper is criticizing both the gesture itself and the American press for trivializing it.
In an op-ed published in Tuesday's edition of Berlin's Die Zeit newspaper, journalist Lenz Jacobsen said it was clear that anyone "who raises their right arm in a sweeping and diagonal manner several times during a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience is doing the Hitler salute," and that there was "no need to make this unnecessarily complicated." He added that terms like "allegedly" or "similar" or "controversial" were also unnecessary in describing what happened.
"The gesture speaks for itself, it is documented in the video," Jacobsen wrote in German. "Anyone who then wants to reinterpret it, anyone who does not want to see the Hitler salute, does so on their own account."
Jacobsen lamented that the future was "foreseeable," writing that "neo-Nazis and right-wing radicals can interpret the stretched right arm as a gesture of fraternization and encouragement." He also predicted Trump and Musk's more "well-meaning supporters" would view the salute "as an escalated gesture of celebration."
"Everyone else is faced with an impossible choice: Either ignore the taboo being broken and thus contribute to its removal. Or mark it as a taboo violation and thus produce outrage, which the other side then takes pleasure in and gets worked up about," he wrote. "One can complain about this, but one must probably expect that a significant part of humanity now sees scandalizing the Hitler salute as nothing more than virtue signaling."
After the video of Musk's salute spread on social media, hate groups — as Jacobsen predicted — viewed the gesture as a show of solidarity with their cause. Andrew Torba, who founded the far-right social media platform Gab (where the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was radicalized), responded by writing: "Incredible things are happening already."
"I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it," neo-Nazi leader Christopher Pohlhaus posted to Telegram.
Click here to read Jacobsen's essay in Die Zeit (subscription required).
Lemkin Institute Issues 'Red Flag Alert for Genocide' After Musk's Nazi Salutes
"Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats," the group said. "The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2025.
(Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Jan 21, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.
"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."
The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.
"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."
"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.
"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.
Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.
As Rolling Stonereported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"
"Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats," the group said. "The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2025.
(Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Jan 21, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.
"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."
The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.
"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."
"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.
"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.
Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.
As Rolling Stonereported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"
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